>It is often said that illegal immigrants in the United States are just hard-working people trying to find a better life; and that they do the jobs that Americans don’t want to do. But, when you look at the facts, illegal immigration is costing Americans far more than what the country and society get in return.

Many illegals do indeed perform jobs that most Americans don’t want, but many are also taking jobs that Americans would be happy to do. A large number of the Illegals that work in industries with heavy reliance on sub-contracting work under the table; that is, they pay no payroll taxes. This is where businesses see the advantage in hiring undocumented workers; they are able to pay them less than prevailing wage, have no worries about unions, do not have to pay health and retirement benefits, etc. But the true cost of these savings are millions of Illegals collecting at least one form of Government welfare (they have no documented income afterall), medical care provided through emergency room visits (raising the costs for everyone else), children in families that pay no taxes being educated and fed in our schools, and the fact that these people do use other government services for which they have not paid taxes (police, fire, roads, parks, etc). Additionally, with no safety nets for most of them a lost job or injury that keeps them from working gives them practically no option for support other than turning to criminal activities.

Statistics say that at least a million and a half Illegals actually receive benefits such as housing subsidies, WIC, free school lunches, and even TANF, SSI, and food stamps. Many of them get these despite the fact that there are actually workers in the family; but because their work is undocumented, they qualify. A recent study, widely endorsed by the media and others, estimated that the average American household pays $1117 dollars per year in taxes that are spent on illegal immigrants. When you consider that only just more than half of American households pay any income tax at all, that must mean that closer to $2000 of the taxes that you personally paid last year was spent on Illegals. I don’t know about you, but I could definitely find a better use for $2000 extra in my budget.

The trend recently found through anti-gang efforts throughout the country has been that an increasing percentage of the gang members apprehended have been illegal immigrants. The numbers, based on arrest statistics, are generally approaching 40% on average throughout the country. Many of these gangs are not only involved in the importation and distribution of illicit drugs, but increasingly they are being arrested for crimes like car-jacking, kidnapping, muggings, assault, and organized prostitution.

The millions of Illegals that enter our country yearly are mainly coming from countries with poor healthcare standards and generally no programs for inoculating their public for killer diseases. Diseases never before seen in US outbreaks have been seen in outbreaks across the country recently. American children have contracted diseases, such as Tuberculosis, in school from improperly screened illegal immigrant children. Many Illegals work in three industries involved with the US food supply; picking crops, meat processing, and restaurant kitchen workers. Those picking crops often work without facilities for using the bathroom and washing hands; think about that next time you don’t thoroughly clean your lettuce or tomatoes. Personal hygiene standards are often very much lacking in their counties of origin and they bring their habits here. My neighbors had their roof redone a few years ago. The crew who did the work had not one person able to speak English, they all spoke Spanish. I witnessed throughout the two days men hiding behind my shrubs to urinate. One guy, I’m pretty sure, was going to do worse until I coughed loud enough that he knew I was there. Illegals working in restaurant kitchens mostly can not read that sign that says, “Wash your hands after using the bathroom”. So, do they; in many of their countries people still commonly urinate in public and do not wash their hands afterward. In some countries outdoor or even public defecation is still not uncommon. So, the influx of people with poor hygiene and poor medical care throughout their lives is a health hazard to us all. Let us hope that the World Health Organization’s declaration that smallpox has been eradicated is true; we in the US mostly stopped inoculating our children for smallpox more than a decade ago. Without a doubt though, we will continue to see disease outbreaks, most commonly TB, that are the direct result of illegal immigration.

Honestly, I would rather pay more for lettuce, restaurant food, a new roof, and lawn service than continue to foot the bills for practically uncontrolled illegal immigration into our country.